HBO, 8:00 p.m. ET

This 2012 Best Picture Oscar-winner, directed by and starring Ben Affleck, is a well-made hrill ride from start to finish – even though the finish departs wildly from the reality of the fascinating true-life story on which it’s based. But the story itself, about a wildly improbable plan to return a half-dozen American embassy employees to safety after the takeover of the American embassy in Iran in 1979, needs no embellishment. And the performances here are wonderful – not only by Affleck, but by supporting actors Alan Arkin and John Goodman, who energize every frame of film in which they appear.

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Good news, TVWW readers: David’s new book from Doubleday, The Platinum Age of Television: From I Love Lucy to The Walking Dead, How TV Became Terrific is now avaialble on Amazon.

Doubleday says: “Darwin had his theory of evolution, and David Bianculli has his. Bianculli's theory has to do with the concept of quality television: what it is and, crucially, how it got that way."

"The Platinum Age of Television is an effusive guidebook that plots the path from the 1950s’ Golden Age to today’s era of quality TV. For instance, animation evolved from Rocky and His Friends to South Park; variety shows moved from The Ed Sullivan Show to Saturday Night Live; and family sitcoms grew from I Love Lucy to Modern Family. A high point is the author’s interviews with Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, Norman Lear, Bob Newhart, Matt Groening, Larry David, Amy Schumer and many others...Bianculli has written a highly readable history." —The Washington Post